The fact that we cannot predict the future should not prevent us from learning the lessons of the past. Seventy-six years after the hell gates of Auschwitz were thrown open, we need to both look back and prepare for what is to come.
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Today, like 76 years ago, we are witnessing complacence, this time by the UN Security Council about Tehran's attempts to achieve nuclear weapons capabilities. Like then, warning lights are on, but the UNSC stays mum and does nothing, the world averts its eyes, and waits. For how long?
Apparently, until it is too late. No longer! Israel will not allow Nazi Iran to become a nuclearized state. The similarity between the Nazi regime and the ayatollah regime should cause the world to worry. Iran is ruled by the combination of a radical ideology and a totalitarian "party" that executes dissenters, blocks internet access and information channels as it sees fit, and controls every aspect of its citizens' lives.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his regime deny the Holocaust, are infected with anti-Semitism, and openly work to promote their goal of wiping out the Jewish state. Their statements are backed up by actions – the Iranian parliament is even promoting legislation to destroy Israel by the end of 2041, and continues to violate the 2015 nuclear deal, threatening Israel and the entire world.
When we say "never again" in the context of commemorating the Holocaust, this is what we mean: Israel must now allow the world's most dangerous regime to get its hands on the world's most dangerous weapon.
The advantage secured over Iran through harsh American sanctions should be used to reach a nuclear agreement that will truly keep Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capabilities. It would be a mistake to re-adopt the old deal, and the mistake of 2015 must not be repeated. Iran will come to the table only when it is forced to face both paralyzing sanctions and a military threat. This was proved in the past, before the nuclear deal was signed after Iran entered negotiations that sadly ended with a poor deal that did not check its nuclear ambitions.
Not only did the 2015 deal not stop Iran's nuclear program, it funneled billions of dollars into Iran's coffers that made their way to various terrorist organizations around us. Removing the sanctions will only convince Iran to refuse any more negotiations and wait a few more years until the restrictions of the deal come to an end.
In 1945, 12 years after Hitler rose to power, the Allies liberated Auschwitz. Three of my grandparents were among those set free. Today, the international community has to ask itself whether it should have taken 12 years. Could the murder of so many people have been prevented? And most importantly, can we take the risk of repeating the same mistakes? Can we stand by as history re-writes itself before our very eyes? Can we refuse to listen as an existential threat comes ever closer? Never again – means today!
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